A Flare of Hope
by Fieryspark
Summary: In a world controlled by a tyrannical and sadistic absol, the few pokemon that aren't fooled by her charming allure create the Revolution Teams; an underground organization that aims to bring the absol to her knees.A young vulpix is soon sucked into their world of death and deception. But what happens to her dreams to kill Absol when a memento from her troubled past wins her heart?
1. Please, Don't Go

**Part 1: The Beginning of it All**

"No! Please... Don't leave me all alone!" cried a small vulpix. She quickly wrapped her torso around her mother's legs, causing the ninetales to nearly lose her footing.

"Hush, Flare," she cooed, shaking her six-year old daughter off. "We'll only be gone for tonight. We have to meet up with an old friend."

"It's gonna be fine. Don't worry, we'll be back as soon as we can!" a male ninetales told his child, a grin threatening to break through his calm facade. While Flare's parents were completely calm, and even mildly amused, Flare was in the middle of a panic attack.

Tears began streaming down the her already slickened fur. Her eyes took on a bloodshot appearance, while her coat began to darken. Wracking sobs shook her entire frame, and the female ninetales let out a long sigh.

"If you calm down, we'll visit the river to catch magikarp next weekend. Is it a plan?" Flare's father asked, uncomfortable with seeing his little kit so upset.

_ "Plan? Plan... Wait..._" Flare thought. Suddenly, her ears perked. Her crying ceased, and her eyes took on a suspicious glint. Unfortunately, this glint went unnoticed by either of the elemental foxes. "Yeah," she stated, voice suddenly monotone. "It's a plan."

"Good. We'll be back by sunrise tomorrow, OK? We love you." The ninetales gushed, giving her daughter a small lick on the forehead.

"Ok, bye!"

The two ninetales then trotted out of the entrance to the small cave the small family called home.

_ "Time to set_ _my plan into motion."_ Flare thought with a mischievous grin.

Flare waited no more than two minutes, then slipped out of the rocky cave. Licking the gravel from her paws, the fire fox kit looked towards the sun, blinking as it's harshness blinded her. Squinting to see her surroundings, the vulpix was suddenly assaulted with a barrage of memories, each one harder to visualize than the last. Blinking back tears, she rarely left her cave for this sole reason; it was far to hard to be outside when all it did was bring her pain. She missed the beautiful meadow spread out before her, and the bird's-eye view from living on a mountain. But now wasn't the time to reminisce in old memories.

Flare scanned her surroundings. She paused as she saw a flash of cream fur dart into the woods that lay in the distance. She deftly ran after it, sprinting as fast as her undeveloped legs would allow her to go. She followed the two ninetales, while keeping a comfortable distance, for a little over 15 minutes. Right when she was about to collapse, she spotted her parents circling around a small clearing. They skillfully managed to keep themselves hidden in the foliage, and she clumsily mimicked their actions.

She managed to see with her acute eyesight that her parents were conversing, while occasionally gesturing to a large building that lay in the middle of the clearing.

The tall gold structure was smooth and reflected sunlight, almost like a mirror. It was several stories high, and appeared to Flare like a monster rising out of the earth. The building alone must have taken up an acre worth of space, and it's size both worried and entranced her at the same time.

Realizing she had zoned out, her gaze quickly snapped back to her parents. She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding when they were still there. Her mother had picked up a worried expression. However, even with her advanced hearing, her ears could not distinguish their words. Trying her hardest to read their lips, she focused on them for another few minutes. Suddenly, her father gave her mother a curt nod, and then they both sprinted into the clearing.

Flare waited a few seconds after they were both inside, and stumbled after them. She awkwardly stood in front the of the building, wishing that she had watched how her parents had actually _entered_. Seeing that there were no holes to get in, she moved closer to examine what she assumed was a door. When she was about three feet away, there was suddenly a loud whirring sound. Just when Flare was turning around ready to sprint back to the safety of the foliage, the doors opened. She gave a dramatic sigh of relief and bounded inside.

The walls were all glaringly white, and seemed to shine and sparkle in an unnatural way. The floor was made of cold and sleek slabs of white stone cut into the shapes of squares. It bothered her how the _CLACK, CLACK, CLACK,_ of her footfalls was reverberating around the room.

The bright light coming from the ceiling definitely wasn't sunlight, but was coming from small, bulb shaped objects. The young vulpix glanced around, becoming entranced with these new sights. An unfamiliar smell suddenly hit Flare, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

_ "It smells like... lemons, and soap, and something strong that I can't name..."_

Flare continued to look around, when suddenly a voice drifted from down the hall.

"We need more food? _Already_? God, they must think that we have an infinite stock or somthin'..."

The gruff voice snapped Flare out of her trance, and she remembered the task at hand. From where she had entered, there was a single long hall visible. At the end, it branched off into two, and Flare wandered down the one that didn't have the scary voice. As her parents always told her, not all Pokémon are nice! That thought nearly drove her to tears, for it reminded her of a best friend recently being kidnapped. She shook her head, trying to physically remove the thoughts from her head. She had to follow her parents!

Finding a large, open area at the end of the hall, Flare curiously poked her head in. What she saw shocked her to no end. Her parents stood there with their muscled quivering, teeth bared, and fearsome snarls rippling from their throats. As scary as that was, that's not what shocked her the most... they were directing their anger at another Pokémon! Her parent's snarling was something that she's only seen once before, when a hypno had cornered her in the woods. But now, they were in a standoff with a large, rock-like Pokémon. It appeared to be a large boulder with a snake head, and it frightened her.

She took notice that along the wall, there were quite a few large tables and desks to hide behind. She slowly crept out and darted behind the one closest to her.

"Oh really," the boulder Pokémon roared. "You plan on taking _us_ down? I'd love to see you try! We rule everywhere that you've ever set paw on!" the strange Pokémon boomed. It's voice literally sounded like rocks in a tumbler, and every time it spoke, Flare winced.

"Oh, we'll try, and we'll win! We are Revolution Team Horizon, the best there is!" Flare's mother shouted.

"That's right, boulder boy," her father shouted with enthusiasm. "Now bring it on!"

And so it began.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON. GOOD THING TOO OR ELSE EVERY GAME WILL HAVE THE MAIN CHARACTER AS ME HAVING N FALL IN LOVE WITH HER. Umm... I said nothing xD**

**AN: OK! Fanfic attempt number 2! I kinda forgot last time that I was re-doing the first chapter and I didn't feel like just editing it for the few that had already read it... So I deleted it and now the new version is up ^u^ Weellll if you couldn't figure it out, the boulder pokemon is a golem :D Next chapter is gonna be up within a week or two, since I just need to do some grammer with that too. **

**PLEASE REVIEW CAUSE I LOVE TO KNOW HOW I'M DOING! I ALSO LOVE FEEDBACK, AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT BEING TOO HARSH, CAN TAKE IT ;D**

**Alright! Have a nice day~**


	2. The Power of Emotion

**Part 1: The Beginning of It All**

The boulder Pokémon was surprisingly fast for a moving rock.

It rolled with extreme speed towards her father, who hastily dodged. As reared back, Flare's mother lunged at its throat. She instead got a hold on his unprotected face, and began to pull and tug as the boulder growled. Flare's father acted as back-up, encircling the snarling Pokémon. His muscles were completely tensed, and he was ready to pounce at a moments notice. Suddenly, the large rock leaned back on his heels, and did a lousy front flip. Flare's mother was harshly thrown to the side, landing awkwardly on her paw, while the boulder began to spin. It rolled towards Flare's father, and Flare watched on as he was slammed the opposite direction.

Flare's mother got up and began trotting towards it. Her body seemed to jerk to the side with every step, and Flare realized with horror that her mother had a broken paw. She hoped to Arceus that this wouldn't get her too hurt in the long run. She and her father did needed her to be able to hunt and take care of them, after all. Those hopes were crushed when suddenly, her mother dropped to the floor whilst letting out a pained yelp.  
Meanwhile, on the other side of the beast, her father let out a steady stream of fire directly in the creature's face. The creature shrugged it off without so much as wincing.

"You two Ninetales planned on facing a full-grown Golem and coming out victorious? May I remind you that I am both a rock **AND** a ground type?"

"Yeah, and that rock and ground type is about to become rubble in the dirt!" Flare's father cried. Suddenly, his eyes began to glow an intense yellow. He transfixed them on the Golem, not even stopping to blink. A golden orb suddenly emerged from his eyeballs, beginning to float around majestically. The Golem was captivated by it, and watched on with an enamored expression as it began to swirl around his body. He spun around to view it, and suddenly it disappeared. The Golem's eyes glowed a deep red, and he began to swivel and spin.

"Yeah! We managed to confuse him!" Flare's mother shouted, rolling off of the ground while keeping the injured paw high.  
The Golem tumbled in Flare's direction, and she slid further behind the desk she was hiding behind. The Golem then looked at her father, and the floor began to crumble and rise from the ground.

"Whoa!" Flare's mom shouted. "Watch out, it's a stone edge!" Flare's father darted to the back of the Golem. Both of them had momentarily forgotten that the Golem was confused and not in control of where the stone edge would fly, and that mistake would cost them greatly.

The stone edge flew not at her father, but at her mother. Flare watch as her mother's eyes flew wide, then attempted to jump out of the way. But that was an impossible feat for even the fastest Ninjask. The butt of the stone sailed and hit Flare's mother directly on her temple. Had she not tried to dodge, it would have been far less severe of an injury. When Flare saw her mother crumple to the floor, she was in complete shock. As the tears entered her eyes, she began to tremble. Her mother's chest gave erratic heaves as she attempted to suck in air.

"M..M...MOM!" she shrieked. She ran out of her hiding spot at top speed, rushing towards her mother. Nothing else mattered to her but her mother at this point, and all of her common sense was quickly forgotten. She stood over her mother, who was coughing up pinpricks of blood.

She desperately looked over at her father only to find that he was right behind her. He picked her up by the scruff of her neck despite her high-pitched whines. He burst towards the hallway from which Flare originally wandered in. Flare was ready to struggle, but soon realized that her father wouldn't leave her mother behind unless there was no other option. After all, they were in "love", as her father said it.

Just a mere ten feet from the exit, a shadow slipped into the doorway. It glanced up and flashed a wicked grin. It gave off such a strong aura that you didn't have to be a Lucario to feel it's malevolence. It even appeared to have knives attached to two places on its body and sharp claws as long as any full-grown Ursaring. Long white fur stained pink at the edges flowed majestically behind her stocky body.

Flare's father growled, a deep and threatening sound never heard by Flare before. She whimpered and her father stopped, instead giving the Pokémon a vicious glare.

"Absol..." he mumbled, still holding Flare by her scruff.  
"Hahahahaha... seems you managed to momentarily stun my subordinate... I can easily send out a stronger opponent, and your mate won't be the only one to take her last breath today," she stated in a chilling and distinct voice that had a hint of... hysteria.

_"Wait...'Take her last breath'? Does she mean... Mom is dead?" _The vulpix was too young to comprehend death, and didn't yet know what it mean to be dead. However, that would change very soon...

"...But, I don't want to waste such a fun task on a plain ol' grunt, now do I?"

Then the Absol snarled and lunged.

*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*. .*. .*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..* ..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*.. 

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Flare's dad jerked his head to the side and let go of Flare's neck.

Flare sailed through the air, then landed harshly on her right shoulder.

And then the sickening sound of Absol plunging her knive-like claws into her father's throat reached her small yet sensitive ears.

Flare watched as the sparkle departed from his eyes, and slowly became a cold, dark nothingness. Blood leaked from the hollow spaces between the Absol's claws.  
_The blood._  
_**The blood.**_  
_**D. **_

It leaked in pools around him, trailing to Flare's paws and painting them a deep crimson. She trembled and shook with such ferocity that it was a miracle that she didn't collapse into her father's scarlet life force.

When the Absol began stalking towards her, her vison flooded red. A deep, numbing feeling began to take over her body, and she honestly didn't mind. It felt like a warm, gentle embrace.

However, with every step the Absol took towards her, the embrace squeezed harder. Pins and needles began to slowly pierce themselves into her body, and she shook with even more force, but this time not out of fear. It was out of _**rage**_.

Suddenly, the Absol stopped. She slowly took a few steps back, and bolted out of the room. The Golem looked at her with its piercing eyes and gave a hearty laugh.

"She's not scared of _you_, is she? I could crush you in one second like the little pest you are. In fact, I think I will." The Golem barreled towards her, and she could feel those pins and needle getting stronger, like she was hit with a Banette's Curse attack.

As the Golem who most likely stole her mother's life bounded towards her, she snuck a quick glance at her father.

And he wasn't breathing.

Flare's eyes went wide, but quickly took on a ferocious look. Her pupils began quickly shrinking and expanding. Her body filled with a white hot _**fury**_, completely unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her body soon became engulfed in flames, and her innocent childhood was coming to an abrupt end.

*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*. .*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..* ..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*.. 

The Golem had never been filled with more fear in his life.

The small vulpix, only about **six years old**, was completely engulfed by anger and fury. That he could take. But the pillar of fire that was shooting out of her fur like a bat out of hell? No thank you. Even if he took very little damage from fire, this was the strongest flame he had ever seen. And that pillar was rapidly expanding outward, towards him.

"_That must have been why Absol fled_," he thought to himself. He was told that all Absol could predict upcoming disasters, but thought nothing of it at the time. And now it would cost him his life.

*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*. .*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..* ..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*.. 

She saw nothing.

She felt nothing.

But was she nothing? No. She currently had more power than any Pokémon in the world, legendary or not.

The pins and needles feeling returned and began to quickly multiply, until she was screaming as loud as her throat would allow. Her white hot fury quickly combined with white hot pain, forming an agonizing combination. Suddenly, a pillar of fire larger than a Reshiram's Fusion Flare engulfed her. It shot towards the stars, going farther than the most powerful telescope could see. It quickly expanded outward, swallowing everything in its path. The Golem didn't even have time to scream.

Everything the flame touched immediately vanished, no ash, no trace of it ever being there. Flare wasn't even spared from its wrath, but having minor burns being the one unleashing it's fury. It continued more than one hundred yards outward, engulfing the entire building and a small portion of woods. The flame finally stopped, shooting up towards the sky while slowly fading away.

Flare collapsed, spent of all energy plus much more than she could afford. As the black engulfed her, she had not one thought, her brain too tired even to make a simple sentence.

*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*. .*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..* ..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*..*.. 

A small, pink, pixie-like creature was suddenly knocked to the side. It had felt like a machamp had used its drain punch attack, small but noticeable, while still managing to suck the life out of her. A bright feeling of anguish, rage, and pain suddenly washed over her, stronger than any emotion she had ever felt before. As the feeling diminished, she sensed where the blast came from, and teleported out of sight without a sound.

When the dizzying sensation of teleportation finished, the Pokémon took in her surroundings. She saw a small vulpix, only around six or seven, who was completely still. The pixie Pokémon realized that the Pokémon was dead, and she felt her heart drop.

_"So young..."_ she thought. "_But wait!_"

The vulpix's chest began to rise and fall, and the strange Pokémon felt a surge of relief. "Thank goodness!" she exclaimed.

She soon was hit by that anger again, albeit much less strong. She began to see visions of what the small child went through, clips and pieces of her hardships.

_"Oh, my.."_ the pixie thought. She picked up and cradled the young elemental fox into her chest, a small gesture of affection. And then she teleported out of sight.

_"You'll be safe from now on, child..."_

**AN: Ok, Chapter 2 is done! Chapter 3 I'll try and have up by the end of next week! Next one is in first person, and we meet a mysterious pokemon (thats not the one at the end of the chapter... PM me who you think that was and I'll tell you if you're right or not!) and I won't ruin the rest xD Oh, and thank you to everyone who reviews and follows and faves! And, if anybody is reading this without doing that, well... I hope you like it! ^^u PLEASE R and R! I love to know what I can improve on AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT BEING TO HARSH! I actually like it a little harsher cause that way you get more of that brutally honest opinion ^u^**** Ok... done babbling now, have a nice week~**

**READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! ^^"**

**EDIT: I AM SOOOO SORRY I THOUGHT THAT I POSTED THIS LAST WEEK WHEN I ACTUALLY JUST POSTED IT INTO THE DOC MANAGER ^^'' I was wondering why I was getting absolutely no response xD Okay welp yeah sorry bout that xD**


	3. A Strange Form of Bonding

Part 1: The Beginning of It All

I attempt to open my eyelids for the third time, the powerful pulses of sunlight having awakened me from my slumber. My most recent attempt failed. Never in my entire life have I felt this weak and vulnerable. My limbs won't cease their shaking, and my paws feel coated with a heavy substance. My muscles have been contracting, and are currently aching horribly. The floor of my parent's and my den feels bristly, and at one point I felt something crawling against my ear.

_Wait._

Sunlight? Bristles? Caves don't have those. As I once again attempt to get up, I hear the light chorus of the Starly and Swablus' morning song. Sleep suddenly begins to once again tug at my senses, and I can't help but to comply to its harsh demands.

*..*..*

I wake up shivering in a cold sweat. The wind is tugging harshly at my fur, and there is no longer any sunlight. My eyes finally comply to opening, even if only a little. I think that I'm outside, but I can't be sure since the wind is making my eyes water terribly. I attempt to move my tails to use them to block the boisterous gust, but they don't comply.

_"I wonder why I'm so stiff…"_ This thought makes me recall my previous revelation of me not being in my home. Why would I be outdoors? I've hated being outdoors since my best friend was kidnapped. His name was Shade, though why I'm not sure, since his personality shined brighter than the sun.

After he was taken, I would wait at our special hideout for hours on end. It was a crystal clear stream in a large clearing that lay middle of the woods, and was surrounded by tens of Sitrus and Pecha berries, which were both our favorites. Anyway, after realizing that he wouldn't come back, I was a sobbing mess. I refused to ever go outside, to ever make another friend that would eventually just be taken from me…

_…Taken from me... Why do those few words make my head spin?_

Taken from me…

Taken from me…

Oh my God.

My blood runs cold. I begin to hyperventilate, and the room began to spin. You know how they say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes? I got those flashes, except instead of the happiest times of my life, I was assaulted by bloody and gruesome images of my parent's lives being ripped away.

I began to dry heave. Apparently, I had been out of commission for so long that there was no substance left to come up. As I coughed and sputtered while trying to make the room stop spinning, I was able to form one coherent thought.

_My parents are dead. _

And the room went black.

*..*..*

_"Mwmmm? Mwwwmmmmm?"_

_Are those... voices?_

_"Hwmmmmmooo?"_

_Again? I wonder what's going on... _

"Hello..!?" a high-pitched voice cries.

My eyes snap open, and I am greeted by a large round object _directly in my face._

"Ngnnnn..." I mumble. It was intended to be shriek, but came out as nothing more than a whisper of incomprehensible nothings. I attempt to move backwards, but soon find that it doesn't work. My legs are stone, and not to add extremely cramped. The strange creature moves backwards, but all I see is a blur of blue and brown.

"W...at hap...ned to yo..?" The blur questions. My ears feel like water is trapped inside, and I can barely hear what I suspect was intended to be a shout. I feebly attempt to tell them _"Go away!", _which may or may not have sounded like a moan for help.

"Ho...N...Ittl...Ger...!...E..Ck...Oon...!" The creature (probably) exclaims. It soon leaves my line of sight, and unsurprisingly, I once again black out.

*..*..*

? Point of View

After twenty minutes of gathering all of the Oran and Pecha berries I can find, with a Sitrus berry thrown in for good measure, I head back to the collapsed Vulpix. She's not the only ill Pokémon I've ever seen, but is by far the worst. She was completely soaked in what I'm guessing to be her own sweat, burning up, and shaking so hard when I found her that I was almost worried that she was having a seizure. When she finally noticed me, the wild look in her eyes almost made me run in the other direction. But I taught myself better. She couldn't be older than me, anyway, and definitely wouldn't be able to fend off against any wild Pokémon in that condition. I get lonely, sometimes, anyway...

"Hello?" I say as I venture closer. The elemental fox was now completely still, eyes closed, not even moaning.

My eyes widen as I drop the berries, hearing the small _thump dum thump_ as each one hits the dirt.

_"No... I can't be too late! No no no no... not again..." _I feel he tears well up in my eyes, and though I have no emotional attachment to this kid, I can't help but feel brokenhearted. I wonder what happened to her, anyway... blood was coating her paws, and her fur appeared singed. I gather up the berries, ready to walk on and erase this from my memory...

And her tail twitched.

My mouth falls open. Moments ago, I was almost sure she wasn't breathing. Regardless, I feel a surge of relief, and pick up a Pecha berry. If she was poisoned, she probably wouldn't last much longer. I tap her shoulder gently to try and get her to wake up. As her eyes flutter open, I cringe at their bloodshot-redness. I gently tug her mouth open and try to force a chunk of the berry in. She weakly clamps her mouth shut on my hand, too weak to cause pain, but at the same time getting the message across. _"Of course,"_ I think. _"A stranger tries to shove some weird food into your mouth, of course you're not going to comply!" _But, whether she likes it or not, I will get those berries into her body before she gets worse off than she already is.

I get to work with the various berries, including the Oran and Sitrus. I peel each one individually and put it into a bowl-shaped rock. When I have peeled enough to heal her, I use some nearby rocks to mash the berries into a thick juice. And then, forcing the vulpix's mouth open, pour the concoction down her throat. She coughs and sputters, so I hold one hand over her mouth and hold her nose. She unwillingly swallows it, her eyes show fear and betrayal. But how can betrayal appear when there was no trust to begin with?

**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo **

**AN: Welp. Chapter 3 :D I'm really gonna start writing these things now instead of reblogging stuff on tumblr and deleting my thousands of messages on deviantART all day xD i'm still gonna update like once a week even if i'm, like, up to chapter 20 by next week xD IM EVILLLL D: Oh, and sorry for the really cheesy last line ^-^" VIRTUAL COOKIE IF YOU CAN GUESS THE MYSTERY POKEMON!**** ALSO CAN YOU LINK OTHER WEBSITES ON HERE OR WILL THEY DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT?**

**Mmmkay have a nice day week thingeh :D ~**


	4. Strangers and Saviors

**Part 1: The Beginning of It All**

**Chapter 4: Strangers and Saviors**

For the umpteenth time, I open my eyes, not knowing what I'll find. In this case, I see a blue otter-like creature- an otter creature who decided to have it's face so close that we're practically touching noses.

"DEAR ARCEUS!" I yell, scrambling back as if the thing were venomous. Which, in my defense, is possible.

"WAHHHH!" The otter screams, somehow not expecting me to wake up.

I scan the area for possible escape routes. I could dart around the otter and run over the river, but if I fell in... and besides, the thing is a blue otter, so it's probably a water type. So I look in my peripherals only to find the ground littered with sharp stones and massive trees that would be nearly impossible to dart around. The river would be my only chance.

Looking back at the otter, I find him staring into nothing with a glassy and far away look in his eyes. So I take my chance and run.

Darting around him with a clumsy gait, I scramble towards the river, leaving scratch marks as my claws search for purchase. The river has scattered boulders within it, so I jump onto the nearest one. The little water on it sizzles and evaporates from the heat on my paws, forming a shroud of steam around my body. I hear the otter calling "Hey! Vulpix! Come Back!", which makes me act impulsively. By sheer instinct to escape the enemy, I jump, hoping to Arceus that I land on a rock, blinded by the water vapor that sizzles around my body.

It seems that Arceus was not on my side that day, since I found myself plummeting into the deep water, and extreme pain casting itself throughout my body.

* * *

Now, it's not the water itself that harms fire types; It's the fact that water is, mostly, cold. For example, have you ever walked to a lake or river only to find it boiling over? I'll answer that for you; No, you haven't. Stagnant bodies of water, such as lakes, can get pretty warm. However, they can never reach quite as high as a fire-types minimum temperature to keep it's internal flame burning. Moving bodies of water, like rivers, are even worse. They typically stay very cold, since the water will never stay in one place long enough to be warmed by the sunlight.

That cold sucks the warmth out of a fire-types body. There is a certain temperature specific to each fire-type that we cannot go under or else our internal flame will flicker out, and unheated water is always under it. So no fire types dare go near water for the fact that it slowly kills us. Well, and another important thing: We don't know how to swim.

My tiny body thrashes and flails as I try to get above the water. Once my head breaks the surface, I let out a blood-curdling scream. For all I know, there is a pretty good chance that it is. The water was so _cold. _I gasp and sputter and scream as a pain that feels like every hair on my body is slowly being torn out overrides my senses. If only I could black out on will...

The otter appears next to me (apparently having jumped into the water; to do _what_, now that's the million dollar question...) with a look of sincere concern plastered to his face. This time, I don't run away (As if I could.) . Instead, I latch onto his body, hoping that he'll get me out of this living hell.

He gives me a look of pity and apology before grabbing and holding me close to his body as water starts to seep out of his skin. I struggle and squirm as he says, "I'm sorry, but hold still!"

Soon enough, water completely envelops us both while I thrash and attempt to wiggle out of his grip. The pain is horrible, and I begin to see black spots in my vision. Out of nowhere, the river seems to be falling from under us, yet his own bodily water still surrounds us both. My screams are now nothing but bubbles floating up and away from the otter and myself as we rocket towards the sky. Suddenly, we rocket back towards the ground and the water that surrounded us falls away. We both land on the ground, him landing on his back and myself on top of him. We skid for a few feet, and then mercifully, it's over.

I give a pitiful whimper, struggling to keep conscious. I fall from him and lay in a crumpled heap on the ground, legs intertwined as my head lands with a _thud_.

The otter suddenly scrambles around, chanting "OmiArceus" and "I'msosorry" and "Areyouokay?!" He picks up an stray Oran berry and runs over to me. Frowning at my disheveled appearance, he daintily rearranges my legs until I'm in a laying position. Placing the Oran berry in front of my snout, he sits down beside me.

"You should definitely eat that. It will bring you back to full health-"

"I KNOW WHAT IT DOES!" I shout, surprising myself at my tone and the fact that I can even speak.

Giving me a look of confusion and guilt, I can't help but feel bad for my outburst. I mean, his eyes are so big and sad...

Giving a small huff of defeat, I bite into the Oran berry, relishing in the feeling of my strength returning. Finishing it moments later, I stand up and mumble a small "Thanks", before turning and heading along the riverbank, warily watching the water as if it will rise out to get me.

"Slow down!" the otter yells. I blink as he runs after me, his oddly shaped feet make him trip several times. "Let me go with you!", he yells.

_What?_

Finally catching up with me, he smiles widely and repeats: "Let me go with you!"


	5. Update

Ok. This story... Isn't going as well as I thought.

I need to confess a few things.

There were no outlines for this, just a few different scattered ideas for plots the would wind up getting all jumbled together. The story wouldn't run too deep.

Plus, the updates would be far between, since I would have to find the right time to actually WRITE them.

Therefore, this story will be off for a while. And, i really mean A WHILE. I'm going to create an in- depth plot, deep characters, and most of all, AN OUTLINE. i'm going to finish writing the story before I even post the first chapter, so that I actually will be able to write every week and not feel the constant pressure of "THEY NEED A NEW CHAPTER!"

So, the story I have so far will remain. But as soon as I'm finished making it amazing, I'll post another story with probably the same title up. I swear to god it will be the best thing your eyes have ever laid eyes on. I'm sorry to all of the people who have been loyal to what little of this story i've written, and I swear that the new story will completely make up for it.

See you guys in a while.


End file.
